“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (Mt 5:11–12).
Radical Islamic Terrorists have been growing in power and influence in recent years. And the world is beginning to see the fruit of its labor in a growing number of attacks and deaths all around the globe. However, as they gain more power and influence they are aiding Christianity in the only effective church growth model prescribed by Christ himself, persecution. In the words of Christ, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.” Let’s be clear, I consciously understand that I am a American citizen and with this birthright I am endowed with inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And so, I have allowed my American citizenship to lead me in a misunderstanding of my heavenly citizenship. Jesus has never modeled for those that would follow after him a life of ease, comfort and peace. But instead, the spread of the gospel of Christ may very well cost us our lives, and liberty. The American side of me relates well to the outcry of my fellow Americans in that these renegade scoundrels must be brought to justice for their crimes against humanity. In fact, there is a part of me that would like our government to retaliate in kind to this injustice. But this morning I awoke with the words of Tertullian a second century theologian, ‘The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.’ The church from its earliest inception required a blood sacrifice by its founder Jesus Christ. This same church continued century after century to grow through persecution and trial.
I became apart of the family of Christ as a teenager. But as a teenager, I never imagined what the gift of Christ in me had done to my being, and my livelihood. In college, I was introduced to a discipline of studying God’s word and the Christian world opened up in a whole new way. My mentor in college encouraged me to read, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs and remember the sacrifice made by other believers so that God’s gospel would spread. This recent beheading of Coptic Christians in Egypt is a wake up call of sorts. My life verse is Philippians 1:6 which states, being confident in this very thing that he who begun a good work in you is faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. This work is not just about us individually, God saves that we might spread his salvation. My friend posted on Facebook about how when a dandelion’s head is cut off that sends a thousand more into the world. I prayed that the seed of death from my brothers in Egypt would erupt in a harvest for Christ unlike never before. Let’s be frank, persecution of the church has never ended. And I thank God for the freedoms that I have in America. I don’t think that we will ever get to a place where we don’t mourn for those that have lost their lives, but we must also rejoice that the church is continuing to spread because Christ is still actively working in the lives of Christians.
JTeverything
Rants and Ramblings 